CNN
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Jessica Pegula, the daughter of Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula, picked up her first career win against a world No. 1 on Friday, beating Poland’s Iga Świątek 6-2 6-2 in the opening half game -United Cup final in Sydney.
The 28-year-old American lost all four of her games to Świątek last season but prevailed in just 71 minutes on Friday to claim her second career victory over the Pole – the last in San Diego in 2019 – and win the American team. first point on Poland.
Frances Tiafoe then beat Kacper Żuk 6-3 6-3 to give the United States a 2-0 lead, giving Taylor Fritz the chance to clinch the game with a victory over Hubert Hurkacz on Saturday.
“[The] the conditions are totally different from where I’ve played elsewhere,” world number 3 Pegula told the WTA. “Obviously maybe I had a little advantage, they just arrived yesterday.
“Definitely the fastest conditions I’ve played with her. Every other place I’ve played her has been pretty slow.
“I think that favored me a lot, and I was able to use that to my advantage and play a really super clean game. I think I was able to execute my game plan probably better than the previous times.
Pegula, a huge Bills fan, told the WTA that she watched the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Bills in Tiafoe’s game against Germany’s Oscar Otte when Damar Hamlin collapsed.
Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and fell to his back moments after tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins in Monday’s NFL game.
The Bills’ safety has since made “substantial improvement” in hospital after the cardiac arrest, doctors said, and is now awake and moving her hands and feet.
Hamlin is able to communicate by shaking his head, nodding or writing brief notes, said Dr Timothy Pritts, who is part of the player’s medical team. Upon waking, Pritts said, Hamlin’s mind was still on the game as he scribbled his first question on a clipboard: “Did we win?”
Pegula called the incident “terrible”.
“There are really no words,” she told reporters, according to Reuters, earlier this week. “I’m glad they stopped the game. It brings you back to a lot of bigger things that are more important than sports and games. It was pretty scary.
She later tweeted, “At times like this, we are reminded of perspective. It’s just a game and in the end it doesn’t matter after what happened tonight. My prayers go out to Damar and his family. This team is a family, football is a family, sport brings us together as a family.
